Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of biomass, and 2.8 per cent CO
2
from other sources, 14.3% CH
4
, 7.9% N
2
O and 1.1%
of the amount of CO
2
that would cause the same amount of warming.
450 parts per million and consequently limiting global increase in temperature to 2°C more
than the average in preindustrial times (IEA
2012a
).
8
In a short story called “From the
London Times
of 1904”, which he published in
1898, Twain describes an invention called the telelectroscope which connects to the phone
system: “The improved 'limitless-distance' telephone was presently introduced, and the
daily doings of the globe made visible to everybody, and audibly discussable too, by
9
The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) was passed in 1978 by the United
States Congress as part of the National Energy Act.
10
The baseline scenario describes a future in which governments are assumed to make
no changes to their existing energy policies and measure. The virtue of this scenario is that
it provides a picture of how global energy markets may evolve if the underlying trends in
energy demand and supply do not change (IEA
2012a
).
11
Because electricity is difficult and costly to store, prices fluctuate far more than for
other commodities, and negative prices are even possible (where suppliers pay customers
to take their excess power). As the renewables sector has expanded rapidly in Germany and
Italy, driven by generous state subsidies, power utilities have found that they need to adjust
their supply chains to avoid generating more power than they can sell.
12
This analysis, conducted in 2013 for the year 2012, considered both the lower prices
during daylight hours and the higher prices at night. The daily peak shaving allowed
a saving estimated at 1.42 billion euros in 2012, more than three times the savings in
